Handcuffed suspect thrown from cop car

A young woman is suing the Los Angeles Police Department for negligence after she was thrown from the back seat of a moving vehicle with her hands cuffed behind her back.

Kim Nguyen, 27, claims she was standing by the side of a road waiting for a designated driver to pick her up after a night out in March, when she was approached by two police officers in a car, KTLA reports.

She said the police checked that she was okay and then left but returned a short time later and arrested her for public intoxication.

"Almost automatically they put me in two handcuffs and took me into custody," Ms Nguyen said.

A short time later Ms Nguyen was thrown from the backseat of the police car as it turned a corner.

She suffered bleeding in the brain and a shattered jaw that required her to spend spent six days in an induced coma.